Software applications and other software programs generally comprise logical code or program logic and other related content. The logical code is typically maintained in what is referred to as source code. Source code is written by a program in a given programming language and can be converted from human-readable (and editable) form into a machine readable form for execution by a processing device. Such conversion is usually performed by a compiler designed for a given computer architecture. Source code can also be executed directly with the aid of what is referred to as an interpreter. In other words, source code can be compiled into object code or run by an interpreter.
Software can be created in any number of diverse software development environments, from simple instantiations of a programming language and related utilities, to large suites such as integrated development environments, or IDEs. Integrated development environments often include editors, debuggers and other tools used to aid developers in their tasks.
Content associated with a software program can include the code itself, full-sized documents such as, for example, help files, and can also include micro-content such as message and snippets that drive the content that appears in dialogues, view and controls for the program. As these examples illustrate, various forms of content can be created and exist for a software application or other program.
Wiki, or wiki software, refers to a collaborative software which facilitates the operation of a website that allows users to easily add and edit content. A wiki system provides various tools which allow the user community to easily monitor and discuss the constantly changing state of the wiki in order to achieve a general consensus on the wiki content. A wiki allows for the collective writing of electronic documents in a simple markup using a web browser. A single page in a wiki is referred to as a “wiki page,” while the entire collection of pages, typically interconnected through hyperlinks, is “the wiki.” A wiki typically has a user-editable “source code, a template and a rendered Hyper Text Markup Language (“HTML”) code. Wikis must be used exclusively online. A single wiki page can result in multiple content fragments. Wikis allow the individual user to view the information in a new “style” (i.e., new graphics, etc.), but the content is structurally the same as before. One example of a wiki is found at www.wiki.edia.org.
Subversion, also referred to as SVN, is a revision control system which allows computer software to be developed in an incremental and controlled manner by a group of computer programmers, SVN is generally internally composed of layered libraries, which allows programmers to create their own software tools at a preferred level of complexity and specificity.